Category Archives: Nostalgia

FEBA, Then and Now

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:

It seems that fewer shortwave broadcasters utilize an interval signal these days. However, of the ones that do, at least a couple seem to have stood the test of time, going back over 50 years. The bellbird from Radio New Zealand comes to mind, and then FEBA, once broadcasting from the Seychelles Islands, and now airing programs from different transmitter sites, continues to use “What a Friend We have in Jesus”.

Listen to this signature tune here:

FEBA Seychelles recorded February 22, 1973 around 1800 UTC on 11955 kHz, as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada:

Audio Player

FEBA radio via transmitter at Al-Dhabbiyah, UAE (using SDR at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) recorded June 24, 2025 signing off at 0230 UTC on 9540 kHz:

Audio Player

Can you think of any others?

73

Dan Greenall,

SAQ at 100: Celebrating a Century of Global VLF Communication

Photo: Martin Wallgren

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who shares the following news:

Grimeton SAQ turns 100!

On July 2, 2025, the SAQ Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden celebrates its centennial — a hundred years of quiet transmissions that have bridged continents and eras.

Built in 1925, this UNESCO-listed radio station still transmits Morse code using a pre-electronic VLF generator.

A silent voice of peace across the globe.

SAQ to air at 100th anniversary on July 2nd 2025: https://alexander.n.se/en/celebrate-100-years-with-saq-grimeton/

English program: https://alexander.n.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Jubileumsdagen_Grimeton100_en.pdf

 

SAQ transmits telegrams worldwide on 17,2 kHz at 11.00 CEST (09.00 UTC) and 15.00 CEST (13.00 UTC). The startups begin at 10.30 CEST (08.30 UTC) and 14.30 CEST (12.30 UTC).

Learn more:

Radio KWID and the War in the Pacific

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jerome van der Linden, who writes:

For my bedtime reading I have recently been going through a book (“Radar Yarns”) which contains lots of stories, many of them humorous, about Australians that were involved in setting up radar stations during WWII around the coast of Australia as well as New Guinea.

There has been a mention of the guys in one location listening to the BBC, and of them sometimes having a shortwave radio where they once listened to Tokyo Rose. But I came across a sentence which made me wonder, and I thought someone in the SWLing post community might be able to throw some light on it: “According to an announcement on Radio KWID, San Francisco, it was a great victory for the American forces. It was broadcast as part of the 4th July celebrations in 1943 that Woodlark and the Trobriand Islands (which includes Kiriwina) had been captured with ‘little or no resistance’”.

So, I had originally asked Thomas to raise a post on this as I had not heard of KWID in my 65 odd years of SW listening, but then….a couple of days later – while watching some TV with the wife – I was doing some googling on my phone, and came across an article published in 2008 by Radio World: https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/a-voice-across-the-pacific-kwid-amp-kwix. This has answered my own question!

I recommend all those who are part of the SWLing Post Community and who have an interest in the history of SW broadcasting should read the above article, you will get a lot more from that than if I were to quote parts of it. It was apparently written by Dr Adrian M Peterson who used to feature on Media Network occasionally (Radio Netherlands, Jonathan Marks). It would seem that KWID was one of the founding stations / transmitters of the Voice of America, and it was well heard in the Pacific, which explains why it was mentioned in the book I was reading. There was also one sentence in the article that caught my eye: “the physical size of both transmitters was the same at 68 feet long”.  Can you imagine that?!

Then lastly, I’ve learned an amazing coincidence: Dr Adrian M Peterson was born in South Australia, in 1931: that’s my home state in Australia!

Jerome van der Linden

Fascinating, Jerome! Thank you for sharing this!

The Secret Listeners

Our friend Bill Meara at SolderSmoke just shared a link to an excellent Hackaday article highlighting Britain’s “secret listeners”—the skilled amateur radio operators who intercepted enemy transmissions during WWII. These unsung heroes quietly monitored Axis communications, contributing to vital wartime intelligence.

This piece offers a compelling look into how amateur radio skills were used for national defense and how listening—often overlooked—played a key role in the war effort.

Read more at SolderSmoke: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2025/06/britains-secret-listeners.html 

We actually featured the 1979 BBC documentary, “The Secret Listeners” eleven years ago (!!!) here on the SWLing Post. It’s a brilliant video:

Can you identify this radio and loop antenna in “Young Sheldon”?

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Bruce, who writes:

This episode, S02E22, was aired on May 16, 2019. In the story the year is circa 1990. The “broadcasts” of CHU (not named) and Radio Sweden International are not actual ones.

I give this episode high marks for taking the time to demonstrate a Shortwave Radio and an Antenna, more than anything I’ve seen before on any TV show or movie.

Can anyone identify the radio and the loop antenna? Please comment!

How Radio Carried the News of D-Day: Broadcasts from June 6, 1944

American GIs heading toward the shoreline of Omaha Beach around June 7, 1944. (Photo Courtesy of The National WWII Museum)

Today marks the anniversary of D-DayOperation Overlord—the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

If you’ve never listened to how the news broke here in the U.S., the Internet Archive hosts a remarkable collection of recordings from that historic day. It’s fascinating to hear the unfolding coverage in real time—an extraordinary window into the role of radio during one of the most pivotal moments in history.

Complete Broadcast Day – D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Hallicrafters’ 1944 Film, “Voice of Victory”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Fred Waterer, who writes:

I’ve fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole.

This time a video that is part propaganda, part Hallicrafters ad, and part documentary.

Pretty interesting how they adapted the radios to wartime conditions:

Click here to view on YouTube.